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Schedule of Meetings, Readings, & Screenings


Note: Many of the films in this course contain adult content, including violence, profanity, drug usage, child abuse, and/or frank sexual content. These films are intended for mature audiences and are not suitable for children under 17 who are unaccompanied by an adult. If you are disturbed by R-rated or unrated film content, you should drop the course.

All screening times given below are approximate.

Key to abbreviations for assignments listed on this page:
FTC Film Theory and Criticism, 7th edition, by Leo Braudy & Marshall Cohen (page # listed for each entry)
SGWF A Short Guide to Writing About Film, 6th edition, by Timothy Corrigan
FA Film Art: An Introduction, 8th edition (CMS 2100 textbook)
TBA To be announced
Online You can access several of the readings below online; just click on the hyperlink for that reading. If a reading is not hyperlinked, it is only available in the texts listed above. Note that the online readings are PDF files, readable only via Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have Acrobat Reader, you may download it for free at http://www.adobe.com

Please note: this syllabus is subject to change (with notice).

 

Section I: Film Form & Analysis

Week 1       Introduction to Film Analysis 

January 10-14

CLASSES CANCELED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER

Reading: SGWF: Chapters 1 & 2, skim Chapter 3 to review CMS 2100 terms
FA: pp. 405-410
Screening: Chong qing sen lin (Chungking Express) (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994, Hong Kong; 102 min.) (Study Guide)
Assignment: In-class writing assignment #1 --> Take home

Read through these PowerPoint slides for Introduction to Writing about Film

 

Week 2      Film Form & Meaning 

January 17-21 No Class Monday in honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday

Reading: SGWF: Chapters 1 & 2, skim Chapter 3 to review CMS 2100 terms
FA: pp. 405-410
Screen on your own before Wednesday: Chong qing sen lin (Chungking Express) (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994, Hong Kong; 102 min.) (Study Guide)
Assignment: Quiz on Wednesday

 

Week 3      Narrative & Structuralism 

January 24-28

Reading: FTC: Brian McFarlane, excerpt from Novel to Film (381-389)
  Skim: John Fell, "Vladimir Propp in Hollywood" and use the second page of the Fresh Study Guide to help
Screening: Fresh (Boaz Yakin, 1994, US; 114 min.) (Study Guide)
Assignment: Quiz on Monday, Film Journal Entry due Wednesday
Shot-by-Shot Analysis Group Project assigned Wednesday

 

Clips and recommended additional screenings this week:
  Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
  Adaptation (Spike Jonze, 2002)
   

 

Week 4        Mise-en-scène & Melodrama 

January 31-February 4

Reading: Thomas Elsaesser, "Tales of Sound & Fury: Observations on the Family Melodrama" (focus on pp. 43, 50-56, 58-59, bottom of 61-62, bottom of 64, bottom of 66-68; you may skim for basic content: pp. 44-top of 50, 57-top of 58, 60-top of 61, 63-top of 64, 65-top of 66)
Screening: Fa yeung nin wa (In the Mood for Love) (Wong Kar-Wai, 2000, Hong Kong; 98 min.) (Study Guide)
Assignment: Quiz on Monday, Film Journal Entry due Wednesday

 

Clips and recommended additional screenings this week:
  Written on the Wind (Douglas Sirk, 1956)
  Sense and Sensibility (Ang Lee, 1995)
  The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola, 1999)
  The Triplets of Belleville (Sylvain Chomet, 2003)
  2046 (Wong Kar-Wai, 2004)

 

Week 5        Camerawork, Editing, & Sound

February 7-11

Reading: FTC: Vsevolod Pudovkin, "On Editing" (7-12)
FTC: Sergei Eisenstein, Vsevold Pudovkin, & Grigori Alexandrov, "Statement on Sound" (315-317)
FTC: André Bazin, "The Evolution of the Language of Cinema" (41-53)
Screening: El Espinazo del diablo (The Devil's Backbone) (Guillermo del Toro, 2001, Spain/Mexico; 106 min.) (Study Guide)
Extra credit: Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, 2006, Spain/Mexico; 112 min.)
Assignment: Quiz on Monday, Film Journal Entry due Wednesday

 

Clips and recommended additional screenings this week:
  Letter from Siberia (Chris Marker, 1957)
  Nanook of the North (Robert Flaherty, 1922)
  The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)
  Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
  Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio de Sica, 1948)

 

Week 6        The Politics of Space & Time

February 14-18

Reading: FTC: Gilles Deleuze, "Preface" and "Origin of the Crisis" (216-226) and "Beyond the Movement-Image" (227-230 and bottom of 232-239; okay to skim 231-top of 232) (Study Guide)

Re-read Deleuze for Wednesday
Screening: Y tu Mamá también (And Your Mother Too) (Alfonso Cuarón, 2001, Mexico; 105 min.) (Study Guide)
Assignment: Quiz on Monday, Film Journal Entry due Wednesday

 

Clips and recommended additional screenings this week:
  Night and Fog (Alain Resnais, 1956)
  Hiroshima, mon amour (Alain Resnais, 1959)
  Muriel (Alain Resnais, 1961)
  L'Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960)
  The Red Desert (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1964)
  Blow Up (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966)
  Pierrot le fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1964)
  Ukigusa (Floating Weeds) (Yasujiro Ozu, 1959)
  The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick, 1998)

 

Week 7        Shot-by-Shot Analysis Projects & Exam 1

February 21-25

Reading: SGWF: Chapters 4-7
Screen on your own before Monday: Punch Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2002, US; 95 min.) (Study Guide)
Shot-by-shot Analysis & Presentation on Monday
Film Analysis Paper assigned Monday
Exam 1 on Wednesday (Bring 2 pens)

 

Begin Film Analysis Paper Screenings (on your own at home):
Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky, 2010, US; 108 min.)
Eve's Bayou (Kasi Lemmons, 1997, US; 109 min.)
Let the Right One In / Låt den Rätte Komma In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008, Sweden; 114 min.)
Oldboy / Oldeuboi (Chan-wook Park, 2003, Korea; 120 min.)

 

Section II: Film Styles 

Week 8        Documentary and Avant-Garde Cinemas

February 28-March 4

Reading: Matthew Bernstein, "Documentaphobia & Mixed Modes: Michael Moore's Roger & Me" (focus on pp. 398-401)
  Stan Brakhage, excerpt from Metaphors on Vision
Screening: Tarnation (Jonathan Caouette, 2004, US; 91 min.) (Study Guide)
Screenings in class: Selected Short Films (Study Guide) in class may include:
Scorpio Rising (Kenneth Anger, 1964, US; 30 min.) <--Give this large QuickTime file a few minutes to load!
At Land (Maya Deren, 1944, US; 16 min.)
Mothlight (Stan Brakhage, 1963, US; 4 min.)
Garden of Earthly Delights (Stan Brakhage, 1981, US; 3 min.)
The Dante Quartet (Stan Brakhage, 1987, US; 6 min.)
Commingled Containers (Stan Brakhage, 1996, US; 3 min.)
Meat Love (Jan Svankmajer, 1989, Czech Republic; 1 min.)
Food (Jan Svankmajer, 1992, Czech Republic; 16 min.)
 
Assignment: Quiz on Monday; Film Journal Entry due Wednesday

Due by Wednesday: declare which film you have selected for your paper

Pre-CMS majors: CMS writing assessment in Library Testing Center T-Th this week

 

Clips and recommended additional screenings this week:
  Roger & Me (Michael Moore, 1989)
  Nanook of the North (Robert Flaherty, 1922)
  Primary (Robert Drew, 1960)
  The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris, 1988)
  Letter from Siberia (Chris Marker, 1957)
  Reassemblage (Trinh T. Minh-ha, 1982)
  Sari Red (Pratibha Parmar, 1988)
  Tongues Untied (Marlon Riggs, 1990)
  Capturing the Friedmans (Andrew Jarecki, 2003, US; 107 min.)
  Miami Vice (Michael Mann, 2006, US)

 

Week 9       Spring Break

March 9-13

No class or screening during Spring Break
Continue work on your Film Analysis Paper

 

Week 10       Art Cinema

March 14-18

Reading: FTC: David Bordwell, "Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice" (649-658) (Bordwell Study Guide)
FTC: Peter Wollen, "Godard and Counter Cinema: Vent d'Est" (418-426)
Screening: Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003, US; 102 min.) (Study Guide)
Assignment: Quiz on Monday; continue paper screenings & writing

Thesis Sentence & Outline of Film Analysis Paper due by Monday via email and bring TWO hard copies to class for your workshop partner and the TA

Workshop 1 during class on Wednesday (MANDATORY)

 

Clips and recommended additional screenings this week:
  Jules et Jim (François Truffaut, 1963)
  Persona (Ingmar Bergman, 1960)
  Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982)
  Vivre sa vie/My Life to Live (Jean-Luc Godard, 1961)
  A bout de souffle / Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1959)    
  Le Mépris / Contempt (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963)
  Pierrot le fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1964)
  Bande a part/Band of Outsiders (Jean-Luc Godard, 1964)
  Deserto rosso / The Red Desert (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1964)
  Giulietta degli spiriti / Juliet of the Spirits (Federico Fellini, 1965)
  Les 400 coups / The 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959)
  La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc / The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Dreyer, 1928)

 

Week 11       Paper Writing Workshop & Exam 2

March 21-25

Reading: Full draft of Film Analysis Paper due Monday. Bring two hard copies to class, one for your Workshop partner and one for the TA. Email a copy to your Workshop partner, TA, and Dr.B as well.
     Read & edit your workshop partner's rough draft **before Wednesday** and exchange your extensive, thorough
     written feedback during class workshop
Screen on your own before Monday: My Summer of Love (Pawel Pawlikowski, 2006, UK; 86 minutes) (Study Guide)
available streaming on Netflix
  Paper Workshop during class on Wednesday (MANDATORY)
Exam 2 (take home) assigned Wednesday, due Friday to secretary in Music 202 by 12pm

 

Section III: Cultural Criticism & Close Readings

Week 12       Ideology & Cultural Criticism

March 28-April 1

Reading: Louis Althusser, excerpts from "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses": "The State" (137), "Ideological State Apparatuses" (141-158), and "Ideology Interpellates Individuals as Subjects" (170-176)
FTC: Jean-Luc Comolli & Jean Narboni, "Cinema/Ideology/Criticism" (686-693)
Screening: Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff, 2000, US; 111 min.) (Study Guide)
Assignment: Quiz on Monday, Film Journal Entry due Wednesday

 

Clips and recommended additional screenings this week:
  Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)
  The Crying Game (Neil Jordan, 1992)
  Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Terry Gilliam, 1975)
  Office Space (Mike Judge, 1999)
  Wag the Dog (David Mamet/Barry Levinson, 1997)
  Dead Poet's Society (Peter Weir, 1989)
  Mona Lisa Smile (Mike Newell, 2003)
  The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola, 1999)

 

Week 13    Race & Post-Colonial Studies 

April 4-8

Reading: FTC: Robert Stam & Louise Spence, "Colonialism, Racism, and Representation: An Introduction" (751-766)
FTC: Manthia Diawara, "Black Spectatorship: Problems of Identification and Resistance" (767-776)
Screening: Cidade de Deus (City of God) (Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund, 2002, Brazil; 130 min.) (Study Guide)
Assignment: Quiz on Monday

Film Analysis Paper + outline/first draft with all Workshop comments due on Wednesday (email a copy to Dr. Bonner before class and bring a hard copy to class)

 

Clips and recommended additional screenings this week:
  The Birth of a Nation (D.W. Griffith, 1911, US)
  The Color Purple (Steven Spielberg, 1985, US)
  Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1982, US)
  Pépé le Moko (Julien Duvivier, 1937, France)
  The Searchers (John Ford, 1956, US)
  The Piano (Jane Campion, 1991, New Zealand)
  The Battle of Algiers (Gilles Pontecorvo, 1960, Italy/Algeria)
  Como Era Gostoso o Meu Francês/How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman (Nelson Pereira dos Santos, 1971, Brazil)
  Soy Cuba/I am Cuba (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1964, Soviet Union/Cuba)
  La Haine/Hate (Matthieu Kassovitz, 1995, France)

 

Week 14       Feminist Studies

April 11-15

Reading: Sandy Flitterman-Lewis, "The 'Impossible Portrait' of Femininity: Vagabond"
Also skim FTC: Laura Mulvey, "Visual Pleasure in Narrative Cinema" (711-722) and review your notes from Intro to Film on Mulvey & ideology  (Mulvey study guide)
Screening: Sans toit ni loi (Vagabonde) (Agnès Varda, 1985, France; 105 min.) (Study Guide)
Assignment: Quiz on Monday

No journal entry due this week so you can work on your Film Analysis Paper revisions

 

Clips and recommended additional screenings this week:
  Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953)
  The Lady from Shanghai (Orson Welles, 1947)
  American Beauty (Sam Mendes, 1999)
  Moulin Rouge (Baz Luhrmann, 2001)
  Eve of Destruction (Duncan Gibbins, 1991)
  Fatal Attraction (Adrian Lyne, 1987)
  The Scarlet Empress (Josef von Sternberg, 1934)
  Pretty Woman (Garry Marshall, 1990)
  Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

 

Week 15       Queer Studies

April 18-22

Reading: Corinn Columpar, "'Til Death Do Us Part: Identity and Friendship in Heavenly Creatures": top of p. 325-top of 331, bottom of 332-341
Screening: Heavenly Creatures (Peter Jackson, 1994, New Zealand; 108 min.) (Study Guide)
Assignment: Quiz on Monday

No journal entry due this week so you can work on your Film Analysis Paper revisions
Online course evaluations on the DUCK begin

 
Clips and recommended additional screenings this week:
  Fried Green Tomatoes (John Avnet, 1991)
  Sleep with Me (Rory Kelly, 1994)
  The Celluloid Closet (Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, 1995)

 

Week 16       Disability Studies and Review

April 25-29

Bring your LAPTOP to class on Wednesday.
Reading: Roger Ebert's review of The Station Agent (Chicago Sun-Times)
Charles Taylor's review of The Station Agent (Salon Magazine)
Also review the semester's readings and key themes
Screen on your own before Monday: The Station Agent (Thomas McCarthy, 2003, US; 88 min.) (Study Guide)
Assignment: Quiz on Monday
Film Journal Entry and In-class writing assignment due Wednesday
Bring food and review questions to share with class on Wednesday! :-)
 Bring your LAPTOP to class on Wednesday.

Revised Film Analysis Paper + both previously submitted drafts due on Monday (email a copy to Dr. Bonner before class and bring a hard copy to class. Even if you are not revising, submit your journal folder with your paper and all journals on Monday.)

 

Clips and recommended additional screenings this week:
  Girl, Interrupted (James Mangold, 1999)
  The Usual Suspects (Bryan Singer, 1995)
  Mad Love (Antonia Bird, 1995)
  I am Sam (Jessie Nelson, 2001)
  The Other Sister (Garry Marshall, 1999)
  Children of a Lesser God (Randa Haines, 1986)
  Deuce Bigalow Male Gigalo (Mike Mitchell, 1999)
  The Wizard of Oz (King Vidor, 1939)
  The Lion King (Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, 1994)
  Richard III (Richard Loncraine, 1995)
  The Exploding Girl (Bradley Rust Gray, 2009)
  The Saddest Music in the World (Guy Maddin, 2003)

 

Week 17       Exam 3

May 2

Exam 3 in class on Monday
Online course evaluations on the DUCK end.

 

Final Exam

Monday, May 9, 2:45-4:45pm in UC272. Bring only 2 pens.